


Senior Field Trip

by viviegirl05



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bullies, Field Trip, M/M, School, Stark Industries, Tom Holland is my Spidey, bad teachers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 02:22:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17479415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viviegirl05/pseuds/viviegirl05
Summary: Peter is 18 and in his senior year of high school, and it's time for the senior field trip. Apparently they're going to Stark Industries this year.Between his bully and bully of a teacher, this is bound to be a terrible field trip, he just knows it.





	Senior Field Trip

Monday mornings were usually boring, and this Monday was no exception. So far.

 

“Class,” Dr. Murphy called, “I have an announcement to make.”

 

Maybe half the class settled down somewhat, the other half continued to chat quietly and completely ignore Dr. Murphy.

 

“As you know the end of the year senior field trip is this Friday, and I’m sure all of you are curious as to where you will be going.”

 

He now had the whole classes attention- everyone loved a field trip, and senior field trips were notoriously the best.

 

“This year we are going to...Stark Tower!”

 

The class broke into excited murmurs, a few people shouting questions at Dr. Murphy, but Peter paid no attention, too busy with all the worst case scenarios running through his head. This was going to _suck_.

 

“Psst! Hey Penis!”

 

Oh great. Flash. Peter had almost completely forgotten about him. So convenient that Dr. Murphy doesn’t a flying fuck about bullying so Flash doesn’t even have to bother keeping his voice down.

 

“Ready to be exposed? No way anyone there will know you, and everyone will know you’re full of shit!”

 

“Knock it off Flash, you’re just jealous.”

 

Good old Ned, always there to stand up for him.

 

“Whatever fatso, stick up for your boyfriend all you want, we all know Penis is too poor and stupid to have a Stark internship- even if they gave them to high schoolers, but they don’t. I checked.”

 

“More like you applied and got rejected.” Ned muttered, Flash having moved on to guffawing stupidly with his meathead friends. Thankfully, in Peters mind. He didn’t want to know how Flash would have responded to that comment.

 

“Thanks man,” Peter said.

 

“Of course. Don’t let him get to you, he’s just jealous he’s not as smart as you.” Ned consoled, placing a hand on Peter’s shoulder.

 

“I know, I just wish he’d keep it to himself.”

 

“Just another five weeks, then we never have to see him again after graduation and we’re off to MIT!”

 

“Yeah,” Peter smiled, “MITs gonna be awesome.”

 

He and Ned had both applied early admission and gotten in- they were even going to be roommates- already secured thanks to Tony, who had NOT helped either of them get in as they hadn’t told him they were applying early admission.

 

They fell into discussion about what college life would be like and how awesome it was going to be rooming together and being able to stay up all night doing legos if they wanted because there wouldn’t be any parental figures around to tell them to go to bed.

 

All of Dr. Murphy’s further attempts wrangle the classes attention fell on deaf ears and soon enough the bell signaled the end of the school day, releasing the students from their educational prison.

 

“Seeya Ned!” Peter called as he raced out of the school. He had finished all his homework during class- thank God for multitasking- so he was all set to patrol until dinner.

 

-

 

The week raced by and to Peter’s horror Ned fell sick on Thursday.

 

“Please, _please_  tell me you’re going to be better by tomorrow,” Peter begged over Skype, sitting at his desk after school.

 

Ned looked truly miserable, puffy eyes, pale skin, red, raw nose, the works. He looked even worse when he told Peter “I wish, but I have a fever, and school policy is a 24-hour after the fever broke thing.”

 

“So?!”

 

“So you know my mom, no way she’s gonna let me go to school tomorrow if I still have a fever now!”

 

“GAHHH!!” Peter moaned loudly.

 

“Sorry dude, I’m just as bummed as you. I’m missing out on a tour of Stark Industries!”

 

“I can show you around SI anytime, Ned, and better.”

 

“Really?!”

 

“Yeah, I’ve offered before.”

 

“Oh yeah...Well I’m definitely taking you up on it now!”

 

“Great. Awesome. Whatever, I’m happy for you bro. However, that does not fix MY problem of going on a field trip to my place of work, where no one believes I work, with Flash and no best friend.”

 

“Yeah, sucks to be you dude.”

 

“Your sympathy is overwhelming.”

 

Ned grinned at him, “just imagine Flash’s face when he finds out you really do work there!”

 

“That’s what I’m worried about,” moaned Peter, dropping his head into his hands. “Everyone’s gonna know me and try to embarrass me and it’s going to be awful!”

 

“Well what’s the worst that could happen? Maybe we can come up with a way to deal with stuff to make it not as bad.” Ned tried to be helpful.

 

“Well, no one’s going to treat me like a standard intern, I’m more like everyone’s boss they’re on friendly terms with and have no problem asking for help. Flash told everyone I’m an intern-”

 

“To be fair that’s what your title technically is,” Ned interrupted.

 

“Not the point. The point is no one is going to ACT like I’m an intern.”

 

“Just say you’re Tony Stark’s personal intern, that’s why everyone comes to you for help. You were already going to be helping Tony with their problem anyway, going to you is probably faster and just as effective- if you’re smart enough to work directly with Mr. Stark you must be plenty smart enough to help them.” Ned reasoned.

 

“I guess that would work…” Peter cautiously agreed. “And most people will probably go along with it- I’m with Tony all the time, he’s always getting me to help instead of him when people come up to us- I think he’s trying to show me off to be honest, it’s super embarrassing.”

 

“Dude I would be beyond psyched if THE Tony Stark wanted to show me off!”

 

“Yeah, I guess I’ve kinda gotten used to it,” Peter mutters, blushing lightly.

 

“And at least the Avengers won’t be there to embarrass you- Pepper talked what’s-his-face into sending them all on missions right?”

 

“Director Coulson, and yeah, all except Tony. He figured out why everyone was going on a mission and flat out refused to be sent away- apparently he’s freelance so he can pick and choose his missions or whatever.”

 

“Yeah, I guess he and Dr. Banner and Thor don’t work for the Avengers full time so they don’t have to listen all the time. Plus, who would ever have the balls to fire TONY STARK, freaking IRON MAN, from the Avengers?”

 

“Coulson would. I’ve met him a few times. Man is utterly UNFLAPPABLE. And he has a poker face to match Nat, it’s intense.”

 

“I can’t believe you have a nickname for the greatest spy and assassin of all time,” Ned gushed.

 

“Don’t let Clint hear you say that, he’d throw a fit,” Peter snickered. “I’ll introduce you sometime- Nat likes knowing how to hack computers and stuff, she might even ask you to teach her some stuff.”

 

“REALLY?” Ned’s eyes got huge and he leaned toward the camera.

 

“Yeah, dude,” Peter snickered, “she always wants to stay up-to-date.”

 

“That would be so awesome…” Ned rambled on about how awesome it would be to help THE Black Widow with something. Peter smiled at his friend’s excitement, allowing him to babble to his heart’s content.

 

-

 

Friday dawned bright and sunny, the exact opposite of Peter’s mood. He dragged himself out of bed and into the shower, trying to psych himself up to heading to school/his doom. He got dressed, combed his hair and headed to the kitchen for breakfast.

 

“Morning,” May greeted him brightly. At least one of them was in sync with the weather.

 

“Morning,” Peter grunted, heaving himself into a chair and pulling a bowl and a box of Crunch Berries towards himself.

 

May puttered about him getting ready for her day as Peter mechanically ate his cereal. Grabbing her keys she pressed a quick kiss to Peters forehead, wishing him a good day and reminding him that she was working a double shift today and that she would see him tomorrow (meaning he could spend the night at the tower tonight as long as he got home before her and she didn’t find out).

 

Finally Peter had to face the music- he wasn’t going to magically get sick and be able to miss the field trip. Time to meet his maker.

 

Locking up behind himself, Peter headed out, walking to school with the pit of dread in his stomach growing with every step. He slipped on his headphones- noise blocking, thanks to Tony, though not quite enough to block all sound thanks to Peter’s enhanced senses.

 

He got to school just as his classmates were starting to board the bus. He walked up and handed over his signed permission slip to Dr. Murphy before making his way to the nearest empty seat and leaning against the window, trying to block out the world and not think about his impending humiliation.

 

“Hey Penis!” Flash shouted. Peter ignored him.

 

“Penis!”

 

“Sit down Mr. Thompson, we are about to pull away.” Finally Dr. Murphy did something, even if it technically wasn’t about the bullying. Was it Peter’s imagination or did Dr. Murphy just give him a sneer as he turned back to the front of the bus?

 

Shrugging it off as his imagination, Peter turned his gaze to the window and braced himself to ignore all of Flash’s taunts on the way to the tower.

 

-

 

Twenty minutes later they pulled up to the curb in front of Stark Tower.

 

“Everybody off,” Dr. Murphy proclaimed. “Don’t dawdle, head right into the lobby. You can see the outside of the building on your own time.”

 

The class disembarked and headed into the lobby with minimal dawdling, to Peter’s surprise. Everyone was excited to get to the tour, he supposed.

 

Once inside Dr. Murphy checked them in and did a head count while waiting for the tour guide to gather the necessary security badges, and was that another sneer at Peter? Maybe it was just sleep deprivation- he _had_ stayed out pretty late patrolling last night…

 

“Alright everyone, this is or tour guide and you will show him the appropriate respect or you will enjoy detention when we get back to school, and I know you’re all excited for the weekend, so let’s behave, alright?”

 

Did Dr. Murphy just look at Peter specifically?

 

“Ok! Hi everyone, I’m Michael and I’ll be your tour guide today!” Michael, good. Peter had only met him a few times, he probably wouldn’t embarrass him.

 

“First thing’s first- I need to hand out your security badges. Now keep in mind that you MUST have these exposed on your person at all times- our head of security gets a little _unhappy_ when he doesn’t see the badges on people.” His and Peter’s lips quirked up at the pun. “Stark Industries has a strict no-reprinting policy on badges, so don’t lose them. When I call your name come up and get your badge. Brown, Abe…”

 

As each student walked up to get their badge Peter stewed in horror- he already had a badge, and thanks to the no-printing policy he wouldn’t be getting a new one. It wouldn’t be a problem if he didn’t have a high level pass. Way higher than an intern should have. Fuck he was screwed.

 

“...and that should be everyone!” Michael declared, handing the empty badge bucket back to the receptionist.

 

“No, Mr. Parker hasn’t received his badge,” Dr. Murphy frowned.

 

“Oh, Peter has his own badge, right Peter?”

 

Peter nodded and held up his badge.

 

“Ok that’s enough. Peter you have taken this fake internship too far now!” Dr. Murphy proclaimed.

 

“Excuse me?” Peter asked, taken aback.

 

“It was one thing when you just told everyone you had an internship, but bribing the tour guide to give you a security badge beforehand is too far! You are in big trouble for this!”

 

“Look, Mr. Whatever, I can see where you’re coming from, but Peter did not bribe anyone- he actually works here and that is his badge. He is a valuable employee here.”

 

“So he faked the badge, give me that,” Dr. Murphy stomped over to Peter and snatched his badge. “Let’s just get this over with and prove you faked this so we can get on with the tour.” He stomped over to the security gate and swiped the badge.

 

“Peter Parker, clearance alpha gold, welcome.” FRIDAY’s voice rang out.

 

Dr. Murphy and the class stood in stunned silence.

 

“WHAT?” Flash shouted.

 

“As I said,” Michael grit out with an annoyed look, “Peter works here and is a valuable employee.”

 

Dr. Murphy grumbled out an insincere apology and gave Peter back his badge.

 

In awkward silence the class filed through the security gate, FRIDAY saying each student’s name and "clearance omega white" after each scanned badge. When Flash and Dr. Murphy went through FRIDAY sounded distinctly colder and less welcoming.

 

When Peter went through FRIDAY once again said “Peter Parker, clearance alpha gold, welcome,” followed by Michael going through and FRIDAY saying “Michael Mulcum, clearance gamma blue, welcome.”

 

“What do the different clearance levels mean?” Shouted one student.

 

“Good question!” Michael smiled, back to his tour guide cheer, “the different clearance levels indicate a person’s security level- you all have omega white, the lowest clearance. That’s given to press, tours, and other visitors who can only access a limited area of the tower. There are four levels of clearance- omega, gamma, beta, and alpha- and within those levels are five other levels- white, blue, green, red, and gold. As you can see I have a gamma blue clearance, that means I have clearance to be anywhere I need to be, including a few labs which we will be touring today. Now let’s get this tour started!” Michael ushered them all into the industrial sized elevator, ignoring the murmuring of the students who noticed Peter's remarkably high clearance. Thankfully Flash wasn't one of them.

 

As the doors shut Michael explained, “right now we’re headed to the Avengers museum, which I’m sure all of you are very excited to see! It has information on past missions, a few recovered artifacts, and retired weapons and costumes that once belonged to the Avengers themselves- including a few decommissioned Iron Man suits and a miniature arc reactor donated by Tony Stark!”

 

The elevator doors opened with a ding and the students poured out.

 

“I’ll give you all about 45 minutes to browse the museum, then we’ll meet back up here. Ok?” Michael called out, dismissing them to peruse at their leisure.

 

Peter started at the far left and decided to work his way right, therefore getting the chance to see everything. His tour started with Captain America and he marveled at the replica of his shield, reading that the original was made by Tony’s father, Howard, and was made of vibranium. He read up on a bit of Captain America history before moving on to the Iron Man exhibit. There were scraps of the very first Iron Man suit he had made in Afghanistan, much to Peter’s amazement. He studied the armor in awe, stunned at what his boyfriend had managed to accomplish in such hellish conditions.

 

He spent the longest time at the Iron Man exhibit before moving on to Thor, which was always fascinating. The information provided details of confirmed Norse mythology and tales of Thor arriving from Asgard. The Black Widow and Hawkeye exhibits were sadly lacking in detail, but Peter figured it was because their work as spies meant that most of what they did was classified.

 

He spent plenty of time at the Hulk/Bruce Banner’s exhibit as it was just as much about the scientist as the Hulk- probably Tony’s doing, making sure everyone knew that Bruce was more than just his alter ego.

 

Falcon, Ant-Man, and Black Panther were engaging in that Peter didn’t really know much about them, what with them not being around much. He had no idea Scott had served time!

 

He studied The Scarlet Witch exhibit and Quicksilver memorial with interest, not knowing much about how they got their powers or how Wanda’s worked, just knowing they were super cool. Vision’s exhibit made Peter feel sad for Tony, knowing how much he still missed JARVIS.

 

War Machine he mostly skimmed, having worked with Rhodey many times and heard most of his stories and adventures firsthand. The Winter Soldier exhibit was weird. It included that he killed Howard and Maria Stark, and that he was brainwashed, but didn’t talk about how he got better, just that he was.

 

He stopped in his tracks when he reached the last exhibit. Spider-Man. He had an exhibit? Why didn’t anyone tell him? And was that his original, homemade suit?! That was embarrassing…

 

“Checking out your pal Spider-Man’s stuff, Penis? I bet this is the closest you’ve ever been to it, right?” Flash sneered suddenly from behind him. “You don’t know any of the Avengers, do you? Just because you have a security badge doesn’t mean you aren’t still a lying loser Penis!”

 

Peter didn’t say anything, seeing a security guard coming toward them over Flash’s shoulder.

 

“What, don’t have a comeback Penis? Need your boyfriend here to stick up for you?” Flash sneered.

 

A hand came down on Flash’s shoulder, making him start. “What seems to be going on here?” Asked the burly security guard sternly.

 

“Nothing. Just enjoying the museum.” Flash lied with a smile.

 

The security guards frown deepened. “No you weren’t. You were verbally harassing your classmate. Bullying is not tolerated at Stark Industries. This is you only warning. Next time someone sees you bullying anyone you will be escorted to the lobby to wait for your class there. Is that clear?”

 

“Yes sir,” Flash grumbles, shooting Peter a venomous glare when the guard wasn’t looking. Peter just sighed. At least it wasn’t someone who knew him that saw that. If it had been Flash would be dangling from the roof by Iron Man’s grip when they alerted Tony.

 

-

 

After the museum they went to visit a lab of scientists- all of whom knew Peter. Great. Well, may as well get it over with now.

 

“Hi!” The lead scientists said once they had all filed in, “I’m Dr. Callan, and welcome to one of the labs here at SI! This is what we call the “engineering playground.” Generally this is where people go to get away from their projects and just tinker for little while, refresh their way of thinking, or just take a break while still working. We have failed robots in here and boxes of parts to build basically anything we can think of to just get our minds clear.”

 

“Hey Peter!” A passing scientist, Ryan, poked his head in the room. “Is there any way I could get you to look at these numbers real quick? I think there’s a mistake, but I can’t for the life of me find it!”

 

“Sure,” Peter headed over.

 

“Why would you ask a high school student something advanced enough to be funded by Stark Industries?!” Dr. Murphy demanded looking affronted.

 

“Well, he’s brilliant, for one,” Ryan looked a bit confused. “Shouldn’t you know that?”

 

“Aren’t you his teacher? Shouldn’t you know when one of your students is a genius?” Dr. Callan asked.

 

“But he’s in high school! Surely your work is more advanced than what we’re teaching him!”

 

“Well he’s Tony Stark’s personal intern, he’s obviously advanced. He helps out all the time! Sometimes he’s even better than Mr. Stark.” Ryan looked offended on Peter’s behalf, even as Peter pretended to be ignoring the exchange as he looked over Ryan’s work on a StarkPad.

 

“Seriously? You can’t honestly expect us to believe that TONY STARK has a HIGH SCHOOL aged intern!”

 

“Well he does,” Dr. Callen looked pissed, “and he’s extremely helpful and valuable to us and is always welcome here.”

 

“Fine,” Dr. Murphy grumbled, looking petulant.

 

“Alright, well, moving on,” Dr. Callen sent one last glare Peter’s teacher before facing the class again. “Today we’ve set up an activity for all of you. You’ll get into groups of three and get a box of parts and try to make a robot! It can do anything you want, just to long as you can make it in the time allotted. You have an hour, so why don’t you group up and grab a box and a workstation! Peter, you can just grab a computer and work on one of your own projects if you want.”

 

“Thanks!” Peter said excitedly, racing over to a computer and pulling up his design for new web shooters.

 

Dr. Murphy and Flash bloth scowled malevolently at him, but said nothing, leaving Peter to work in peace.

 

After the hour only three groups had working robots- Flash’s groups effort fell apart the second they tried to activate it, much to Peter’s private amusement. Based on the glare Flash sent Peter’s way, he wasn’t entirely successful in hiding his delight.

 

“Alright!” Michael clapped his hands, getting everyone’s attention. “Time for lunch! If you’ll all follow me…”

 

Michael led them to the 23rd floor cafeteria- Peter’s favorite- and told them all they had an hour to eat whatever they wanted, all the food in the cafeteria was free so have at it.

 

Peter loaded up on food, starving after having only had cereal for breakfast. May always nagged him that it wasn’t enough for breakfast, especially for someone with an enhanced metabolism, but it was easy, so Peter kept eating it.

 

He grabbed a huge slice of supreme pizza, a gyro, a large coke, and a fried chicken breast with mashed potatoes and green beans. As soon as he sat down, alone (‘thanks, Ned,’ he thought bitterly), Flash and some of his goons stormed up to him.

 

“What the hell Penis, how’d you do it? Pay them off? Oh wait, you’re poor. How many dicks did you suck to get those guys to pretend you’re so important?” Flash jeered, grabbing his shirt and pulling Peter toward him. “Or did you bend over instead, huh? That why you’re so hungry, you stay up all night letting guys fuck you?”

 

“Excuse me.” A voice said from behind Flash, who was now bending over and sneering in Peter’s face from only a few inches away, blocking his view of who was interrupting them.

 

“Fuck off, I’m about to teach this loser a lesson,” Flash threw over his shoulder without taking his eyes off Peter.

 

“Like hell you’re doing anything!” The man grabbed Flashes shoulder and whirled him around.

 

“Hey! Who the hell…” Flash trailed off, looking like he was about to shit his pants. Staring at Flash, rage burning in his eyes, was a seriously pissed off Tony Stark.

 

“You were saying?” Tony growled.

 

“I...um...we were just...we’re friends, we’re joking around…”

 

“Doesn’t look like joking to me. Looks like bullying. How long have you been bullying Peter?”

 

“Uhh…” Flash looked straight up terrified, eyes darting around looking desperately for an escape.

 

“How. Long.” Tony was not a patient man on a good day, and he was NOT in the mood to wait now.

 

“I...uh…”

 

“How long Peter?” Tony turned to look at Peter.

 

“...since freshman year, but it’s really not a big deal, I’m graduating in a few weeks anyway, so it’s fine!” Peter pled.

 

“Freshman year!? This has been going on for _four years_ and no one has managed to stop it?!”

 

“Well, no one really tried…” Peter instantly regretted saying that as he saw the pure, unadulterated rage fill Tony’s face.

 

“NO ONE EVEN TRIED?!?!” Tony practically screamed.

 

“What the hell is going on here? Parker, what have you done!?” Dr. Murphy honestly had the worst timing.

 

“Who the hell are you?” Tony turned to the man with fury in his eyes and venom in his voice.

 

“Charles Murphy, I’m these boys’ teacher and in charge here.” Did he not recognize Tony Stark?

 

“Yeah, well I’m Tony Stark and I’M in charge of EVERYTHING IN THIS BUILDING, and you are the sorriest excuse for a responsible adult I have ever seen!”

 

“Look, this whole thing is Parker’s fault, he’s always been a trouble maker. He’s been lying about having an internship with you for years and now he’s convinced several of your employees to help him keep up the ruse, but he’s obviously lying and if you’d just let me deal with it everything will be fine.” Wow. He seriously still thought Peter was lying?

 

“LYING?!?! PETER PARKER IS **BRILLIANT** AND **DOES** HAVE AN INTERNSHIP HERE AND IS ONE OF THE MOST VALUED AND USEFUL EMPLOYEES I’VE EVER HAD. I SENT PAPERWORK TO HIS SCHOOL TO PROVE IT AND HAVE PERSONALLY PICKED HIM UP FROM SCHOOL ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS AND YOU STILL THINK HE’S A LIAR?!?!” Tony bellowed, gathering the attention of the entire cafeteria.

 

“He could have easily faked that paperwork,” Dr. Murphy scoffed, though he looked distinctly less confident now, “and I have never heard of anyone picking him up from school- once the bell rings they’re their parents' problem, not mine.”

 

“So basically you don’t give a single shit about your students and go out of your way to make their lives more difficult?!”

 

“Mr. Stark, it’s fine…”

 

“No, Peter, it’s not fine. Does he treat all is students like this, or just you?”

 

“...I guess it’s just some students…”

 

“Let me guess, the smartest students? Or is it the poorer students? Do you feel threatened when your students are smarter than you? Or are you just showing preference to kids whose parents donate to the school?” Tony raged.

 

“I-I..well, I-” Dr. Murphy blustered.

 

“Or is it both? Is that it? You’re just a shitty person who has no business spending any time around kids? Why the hell did you ever become a teacher with this attitude?”

 

“I-”

 

“Save it, I don’t want to hear your excuses. You-” he pointed at Dr. Murphy, “and you-” he pointed to Flash, “get the hell out of here. I don’t want you anywhere near my tower!”

 

“What?!” Flash cried.

 

“You can’t do that, I have to supervise this class!”

 

“Well now I’m supervising the class. A superhero is infinitely better than a corrupt, shitty teacher. Now go!”

 

Two security guards appeared and grabbed Flash and Dr. Murphy by the arms, leading them to the elevator, presumably to lead them from the premises.

 

“They can’t just leave, they have to take the bus back to school like everyone else,” Peter told Tony.

 

“Fine, they can wait in the lobby and security will babysit them. As long as they aren’t around you I don’t care where they are.”

 

Peter couldn’t help blushing as how protective Tony was being. It was actually kind of sweet, in an embarrassing and overbearing kind of way.

 

“Tony…” he murmured quietly enough that only Tony could hear.

 

“I’m serious Pete, I will not tolerate that kind of behavior in my tower or that kind of treatment to my...intern.”

 

They were keeping their relationship on the down-low, not wanting to deal with the media backlash- at least not until Peter had graduated.

 

“Alright, back to lunch, show’s over,” Tony shooed everyone away. Once the crowd had dispersed and muted conversation commenced around them Tony sat next to Peter.

 

“Aren’t you going to eat?”

 

“Already ate, kid. I just swung by to say hi, and I’m glad I did. Are all your teachers that bad?”

 

“No, Dr. Murphy’s the worst. Some teachers have reported Flash for bullying actually, but his dad just donates more money to make it go away.”

 

“Flash? More like Trash. And he’s seriously never been punished for bullying?”

 

“Not that I’m aware. But really, it’s not a big deal. I’ll graduate in a few weeks, then I never have to see him again.”

 

“You sure about that? What if he gets into MIT?”

 

“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have the grades for that…”

 

“Hmm,” Tony pulled out his phone. “Eat your lunch.”

 

Deciding discretion was the better part of valor, Peter opted to ignore whatever Tony was doing and just eat his food. Pepper could undo whatever Tony did if necessary. Probably. He hoped.

 

Now that Flash and Dr. Murphy were gone it was actually a very peaceful lunch. That also could have been Tony at his side keeping other bullies away. Either way, Peter thoroughly enjoyed his food and took his time to savour every bite.

 

“Alright everyone!” Michael called after a while, “time to get back to the tour!”

 

Everyone threw out their trash and gathered at the elevator.

 

“Now we’re headed to a business presentation to tell you a bit about they non-scientific side of SI. Mr. Stark, will you be joining us?” Michael asked, finally noticing Tony.

 

“Yes, I will,” Tony said simply, daring anyone to challenge him.

 

“Alright then, off we go,” Michael really was a trooper, rolling with the punches as it were.

 

They entered a meeting room that looked like it was set up for a speech or press meeting, an audience full of chairs pointed at the front of the room where a white screen was set up.

 

“Everyone take a seat, make sure you can see the front!” Michael called.

 

Peter and Tony selected seats near the back, Tony draping his arm along the back of Peter’s chair and glaring at anyone who looked their way.

 

They only had to wait a few moments before a woman in a suit walked in, her mouse brown hair pulled neatly into a low ponytail and a bland smile on her face.

 

“Hello everyone, I’m Marissa Colt. I’m going to tell you about the business side of SI. Now I know some of you may find business boring, but here at SI there are plenty of exciting things always going on, not all of them science based.” After her intro Peter tuned things out. He knew all about the business side of SI thanks to Pepper, and he didn’t really want a repeat lesson.

 

Before he knew it the presentation was over and people were clapping politely. Marissa smiled and made her exit as Michael took her place at the front of the room.

 

“Alright, that’s about it for the tour, now how about we head to the gift shop?” Michael said with a smile.

 

They all squeezed into the elevator one last time and went down to the lobby where the gift shop was located.

 

Everyone milled about the shop, browsing and choosing items to purchase. Peter just hung out with Tony, chatting about what they would do in the lab that weekend.

 

“So why are you wasting your time with Penis Parker?” One of Flash’s thugs interrupted them. “I mean, it’s not like he’s all that smart or special or anything.”

 

Tony would have lunged at the idiot had Peter not held him back. He must have pickup on the rage in Tony’s eyes because the moron scampered off immediately.

 

“Let it go, it’s not worth it,” Peter soothed.

 

“Who came up with the name ‘Penis Parker’?”

 

“Flash,” Peter sighed, knowing Tony wouldn’t let it go.

 

Tony glared across the lobby at said bully, who was lounging next to his teacher arrogantly, sure in the knowledge that his father would make everything better.

 

Tony marked over to Dr. Murphy and spat “Peter’s staying here.”

 

“He has to go back to the school. He can’t stay without a guardian’s permission, and that isn’t you,” Dr. Murphy sneered.

 

“Fine, you wanna play, we’ll play.” Tony pulled out his phone and dialed May Parker on a video call.

 

“Tony? Is something wrong? Is Peter ok?”

 

“Peter’s fine, May. Is asshole teacher is insisting he go back to school before he can come back here after. Thoughts?”

 

“Put him on the phone.”

 

Tony turned the phone to face Dr. Murphy.

 

“Look, Peter’s 18, let him do what he wants. He’s responsible and I trust him. Now don’t be stupid and use your head next time and don’t interrupt me at work. I know you’re a terrible teacher, but have some logic for god’s sake.”

 

With that she hung up, leaving Dr. Murphy with an outraged look in his face.

 

“You heard the lady, Peter stay’s here. Enjoy your last few hours of employment.”

 

Tony turned on his heel and stalked away from the affronted looking man, wrapping his arm around Peter’s shoulders as he passed and pulling him along to the elevator, turning to shoot one last glare at Flash and Dr. Murphy before the doors closed.

 

After the doors closed Peter pulled Tony into a kiss.

 

“You really didn’t have to do that,” he smiled.

 

“I know,” Tony said, stroking Peter’s cheek, “but no one treats someone I love like that and gets away with it.”

 

They kissed again as the doors to the elevator opened to Tony’s penthouse.

 

“What are we doing here?” Peter frowned, “I thought we were going to work in the lab?”

 

“I thought of something more important to do.”

 

Peter looked at him, confused.

 

“Cuddle with my boyfriend. _Star Wars_?”

 

“Of course! I’ll get the blankets, you pick which episode!”

 

Peter bounded off to gather only the softest and fluffiest blankets for their cuddle session, knowing that Tony needed to feel like he was comforting him. They spend the afternoon and night curled up in each other, only taking a break to order pizza when they got hungry, playfully arguing about toppings before settling on three pizzas- two for Peter, one for Tony.

 

If they got so wrapped up in each other that they fell asleep in front of the TV and Peter only got home before May because FRIDAY intervened, well no one else needed to know.

 

-

 

Monday morning Peter arrived at school to hear that there was an assembly being called first thing in the gym. He quickly found Ned and they grabbed some seats in the middle of the bleachers.

 

“What do you think this is about?” Ned asked.

 

“Dunno,” Peter replied, “but I have a horrible feeling it has to do with the field trip.”

 

Peter had told Ned all about the trip on Sunday when Ned was feeling better and they had a lego session, so Ned knew Tony was probably going to retaliate further against Flash and Dr. Murphy. They amused themselves with thinking of all the silly things Tony might do, like showing up at Flash’s house in full Iron Man armor. They had a good laugh thinking about that one.

 

“Good morning,” Principal Morita stood in front of the gathered students looking severe. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why we have gathered you here. It has been brought to my attention that there is a bullying problem in our school that has not been addressed.” He frowned at them all. "Now, I’m not going to name names, but bullying is a serious problem. It happens to be one of the leading causes of school shootings and teen suicide. Obviously this behavior cannot be allowed to continue. We have set up a box in the cafeteria and the front office where people can anonymously alert the school staff to bullies or bullying problems, so that if you do not feel comfortable speaking out yourself, you can still do something to help those around you.

 

Now, another serious problem is that bullies seem to think they can get out of trouble because their parents have plenty of money. Midtown will no longer be reducing punishments in exchange for donations, and if it is ever heard of happening that teacher will be punished as well as the student.” Here he looked at the assembled staff sternly. “I would now like to welcome a guest speaker, here to talk to us all about bullying. Captain?”

 

To Peter’s horror, Steve Rogers, Captain America himself, walked out in front of his whole school in full patriotic regalia.

 

“Hello Midtown,” he greeted with a smile, “as most of you know, I’m Captain America. What you may not know is that I was bullied for most of my life. Even though I was small then, I always fought back. Even if I wasn’t the one being victimized, I still stood up against bullies. It’s the right thing to do to stand up against bullies….”

 

‘I cannot believe you’ Peter texted Tony, slipping out his phone and tuning out the captain’s PSA (live edition).

 

‘I know, I am rather amazing. Sometimes I even blow myself away with my brilliance.’ Tony replied.

 

‘You sent Steve to give a speech about bullying at my school???’

 

‘Actually no, he set that up all by himself when he found out what happened on Friday’

 

‘...really?’

 

‘Really.’

 

‘...so you had nothing to do with this?’

 

‘Well I may have called a meeting with the school board and gotten a certain teacher fired and barred from working the education system ever again, and I may have insisted they do something about the bullying and favoritism, but the Captain America PSA is all Steve’

 

‘You got Dr. Murphy fired?!’

 

‘He deserved it kid. Don’t try to apologize or get him rehired because what’s done is done, nothing you can do about it.’

 

‘I’m almost scared to hear what you did to Flash…’

 

‘Do you really want to know?’

 

‘No’          ‘Maybe later’

 

‘Your choice’

 

Peter put his phone away just as Steve was wrapping up and the students were clapping for him.

 

“You are all dismissed to go to your first period class,” Principal Morita excused them all.

 

People were subdued all day, and everyone made sure to be extra nice to Peter, much to his annoyance. That wasn’t what the assembly was about! No one even said anything about him!

 

When he reached last period, Dr. Murphy wasn’t there. Neither was Flash. A substitute teacher sat at the desk and as soon as the bell rang she simply put on a movie and told them all the pay attention.

 

‘Ok, what did you do to Flash he isn’t in class’

 

‘Well after seeing and hearing about Flash on Friday I may have gone through the schools security camera footage and found more than enough evidence to have him expelled’

 

‘You did WHAT’

 

‘I may also have contacted all the colleges he applied to and informed them of his expulsion and the circumstances of it’

 

‘Oh god…’

 

‘He should have considered the consequences of his actions when he decided to become a bully’

 

‘I love you, but never do anything like this again’

 

‘Noted.’

 

As much as Peter disapproved of Tony’s actions, he couldn’t help but think about how much better the rest of his high school experience was going to be. Life looked good.


End file.
